


Intus Mortuis

by corvobiancos



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/M, SO. MUCH. ANGST., Tess also has no details about her past so I can do whatever I want, Writer adopts Tess as her own OC bc she didn’t deserve to be fridged like that, everybody lives au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-23 23:15:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14943167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvobiancos/pseuds/corvobiancos
Summary: We all know Tess was a badass, and we also all know she didn’t deserve to be killed off so early. Sure, it was a plot device to motivate Joel but have you ever thought of what the game might have been like if she lived? Have you also ever wondered what Tess’s past may have been like? Well this is the fic for you. I need an outlet for my feels until TLOU Part 2 comes out and this is it right here. I’m also basing a lot of lore details on my own headcanons, so some of that might sound weird or wrong but just bear in mind that Naughty Dog didn’t give us a super detailed world to work off of in the first place.





	1. CHAPTER ONE

**Author's Note:**

> Before we begin, I know this is a weird and very slow start. This whole thing’s probably going to be paced weirdly overall too and I’m planning on swapping timelines—maybe even POVs—with every chapter, so just bear with me. It’s also been a number of years since I’ve posted anything so...yeah. We’ll see what happens. Be nice to me.

**BOSTON, 2028.**

 

Tess handed the forged paperwork over to the FEDRA soldier, ignoring the disdainful glance he gave her and her brother. She watched him flip through them quickly; thank god—he wouldn’t notice the few typos she’d noticed after the forger fled Atlanta. A few feet behind him, another soldier was looking through their backpacks.

“...Looks good over here,” the soldier deadpanned, handing the wrinkled bundle of papers back to her despite not appearing to check their photos. Tess glanced back at Cole, who just offered her a tiny shrug. Maybe this zone wasn't quite as oppressive as they'd heard.

When she turned back the soldier was waving the two of them through the checkpoint, where another one waited to escort them into the quarantine zone. She eyed the assault rifle the soldier carried, slightly jealous of it. She’d scavenged one a couple years back, but had to ditch it in favor of a hunting rifle that now sat hidden in a duffel bag she’d already hidden not too far outside the QZ’s perimeter.

The three of them walked through the street, and as she looked around Tess sized up the populace as well as how the FEDRA soldiers handled their patrols here. They were quite a bit more trusting than the last zone, that was certain. They were everywhere, but there was only one firing squad in the street as far as Tess could see. Back home in Phoenix, she remembered hearing several shots and screams that woke her up as an alarm almost every morning. Luckily she was never one of the victims; she knew how to cover her tracks and leave her exits looking untouched every time she had to venture out.

The one squad that was in the street only had three civilians accused of being outside the perimeter and getting infected. Tess stole a look at each of the accused—all were equally terrified but it was still impossible to tell who, if any, of them was infected. It was equally likely that they all had been falsely dragged outside and were terrified of death. Tess noticed one of the FEDRAs pull a scanner from their belt before her escort snapped her fingers and ordered Tess and her brother to get a move on. At least it seemed that Boston still had working bioscanners. That was a luxury that Phoenix never had the chance to receive before it fell into ruin.

It doesn’t concern me, Tess told herself, We made it. Now we just have to start making some connections. She and Cole turned the corner at the end of the street right as one final screaming plea for mercy and a gunshot rang out behind them. Tess still jumped and felt the slightest bit bad, but there was nothing she could have done to help them anyway. Their escort said, “You two’ve got great timing. Now I don’t have to scare you into not sneaking outta the QZ.”

“No shit,” Tess muttered.

“You’d think these people would realize that leaving is suicide.”

“Mmhm.” Tess kept the talking to a minimum. Most FEDRAs in her experience were still hair-triggers even if they were pretty lenient. Say one wrong thing and you’d be staring down the barrel of their rifle before you could even take another breath.

The three of them approached an apartment building that looked like it was slowly sinking into its foundations, and their escort said, “We got one vacancy in this one here. Top floor, third door on the left. Number 23.”

Tess half-expected her to pull a set of keys from one of the many cargo pockets on the FEDRA’s pants. The FEDRA said, albeit sarcastically, “You want keys, you gotta find a locksmith. Welcome home, Miss Barton.”

“...Sure.” Tess waved for Cole to follow inside, and they made their way up the building to their new apartment. There, her brother finally spoke:

“...Thanks for getting us here, Tess.”

“Can’t promise I’ll stay outta trouble while we’re here,” she said, tossing her rucksack onto the one sofa that served as their only piece of furniture, “But we’ll see how long this lasts.”

“At least pretend to be normal for a couple days before you start working again.”

“Again: not promisin’ anything. Gotta start gettin’ us ration cards somehow.”

“Maybe this QZ’s better about supplying them.”

Tess sat down and heard either the floor or the couch creak, shaking her head as he spoke. “No way. This place is full to the brim with refugees; there’s no way everyone’s eating even one meal a day here. It’s still gonna be survival of the fittest in here whether we like it or not. I’ll take a quick break tonight, but at dawn I’m trackin’ down that guy they told us about.”

“The Texan?”

“That’s the one.” She leaned her head back and shut her eyes. If she wanted to get out there and start making some friends, she’d have to start making up for the past two sleepless days.

 

 

***

 

 

Tess inhaled sharply and forced her eyes wide open. The moment she lifted her head, she regretted letting herself sleep sitting upright on the couch. Craning her neck backward like that was already going to put a damper on her morning, aside from the fact that she would have to go out brown nosing around the zone’s underbelly to start getting some steady pay. “Goddammit...” she murmered, massaging the back of her neck. She cocked her head to the side and twisted to cause a loud, satisfying series of cracks in her neck. It felt better for the moment, but she still cursed herself under her breath. She pushed herself to her feet, and the blisters underneath the calluses on her feet made themselves known as well.

“Tess, you’re a fuckin’ moron.” She looked down at the worn-down combat boots she’d left on her feet the evening before and frowned. Tess looked at the other end of the couch and saw her brother was still asleep, curled into a fetal position with his head on the arm of the couch. He’d had the the foresight to remove his boots before laying down.

Daylight striped the floor of the apartment in uneven lines at Tess’s feet, and with the light refracted throughout the room, she noticed just how bad of a shape the apartment was. The tiny kitchen in the corner held a refrigerator and a stove, but if anything the fridge was just an extra cabinet by that point. With any luck, the stove would be gas powered and the gas lines in the building were still working, though. Winter wasn’t too far off and the stove would make a good heater.

Tess pushed herself to her feet and ignored the soreness in her joints. She saw what was probably the doorways to the only bedroom and bathroom the place had, each of which no longer had doors. The hinges were still there, but she assumed the doors themselves had been commandeered by FEDRA to reinforce barricades or repair structures elsewhere. She entered the bedroom slowly, taking in what views she had of the area nearby—so far just a few office buildings that had been retrofitted into apartment buildings, and other run-down apartments. one sewer grate was in the center of the street in front of their building, but it wouldn’t be a good exit. It was in plain view and it was welded shut anyway. She’d have to check this building’s basement sometime soon. It was unlikely, but maybe there was a tunnel into the sewers in their building. A girl could always hope.

One of the patrolling soldiers glanced up at her window and out of instinct, she ducked away from view and moved on to check out their bathroom.

They had the essentials: a shower, a toilet, a sink, and a mirror. Now whether or not any of the plumbing worked was another matter entirely. She turned the knob in the shower and after several seconds of bubbling and groaning in the wall, icy cold water began to spray. Hot water would have been nice, but she wasn’t counting on that ever happening. Lukewarm water would have even been a stretch. Next, she flushed the toilet and the only issue was that it refilled a bit too slowly for her liking. The only thing that didn’t work was the sink, and that wasn’t much of an issue. The fact that any of the plumbing worked at all was a miracle on its own. The mirror above the sink had a spiderweb-shaped crack in it, held together with packing tape but it was still usable enough.

As she made her way back into the living room, Cole was sitting up. He said quietly, “Mornin’...”

“Mornin’, Sleepin’ Beauty.” She took her backpack from the floor beside the sofa and began looking through it. Tess pulled her hunting knife out and buttoned the sheath to the back of her belt.

“Y’think that’s a good idea?” he said, “I know they look kinda lenient but I don’t think you should go out there with your knife out in the open like that.”

Tess untucked her flannel and let the back of it cover the knife, coming down below her backside. “I’ll be fine. I’m not gonna go out there unarmed. It’s unprofessional.”

“...Just be careful out there. Don’t rile up any of the soldiers; you know I’m not good at this whole survival thing.”

Tess smiled, “I’ll probably be back sometime this afternoon. Worst case scenario, I’ll get asked to do a quick job to prove how good I am and even then I’ll do my best to let you know the situation.”

He nodded, but she could still see the disappointment in his eyes.

“C’mon, don’t gimme that look. You’re makin’ me feel bad.”

“That’s why I’m doing it.”

She sighed. “Promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Tess felt the back of her flannel to make sure her knife was concealed, then set out to forge some friendships. She already had a start: the Texan her old boss mentioned back in Atlanta. He was older, but as far as she’d been told, age didn’t make him feeble. If anything it made him better at smuggling. Tess pulled the old sticky note from her back pocket and read:

 

“Look for a guy named JOEL. He should still be up in the Boston QZ if it’s still up and running. He’s kind of prickly but as long as you don’t piss him off too much you’ll be fine. Look for him in the housing district closest to the south FEDRA checkpoint. He’s going to be a pretty big dude—probably only wears flannels and really dirty jeans, has a beard and a broken watch from JCPenney’s. You can’t miss him.

—Good luck, Barton. Hope we’ll be seeing each other again. Sooner rather than later.”

 

The last sentence made her want to vomit. Her old boss had always been a bit too friendly with his people. All the more reason to get as far from Atlanta as possible...that and the looming threat of a refugee uprising. Those never went well, and Tess thought it better to avoid those if at all possible. Luckily her brother wanted to get back on the road at the time. That saved their asses. Tess crumpled the note and crammed it back into her pocket. She walked down the street, sizing up the citizens and looking for one fitting Joel’s description.

Most of the people she saw were just that: people. No one had an oddly high level of paranoia at a burly, scarred woman studying each and every one of them. Fear of it, maybe, but not paranoia. She knew the difference. Tess had gotten very good at reading people. No one so far seemed the criminal type.

It was only mid-morning. Plenty of time to find the QZ’s hub of criminal activity. It might just take a bit more work to find it than in past zones she’d worked within.

Eventually she found her way to one of the less-fortunate districts. Old city transit buses had been repurposed into shelters, and what used to be temporary scaffolding had been left behind and became a shantytown of sorts. The FEDRAs surrounding the area were more visibly brutal—she’d do her best not to cross them. They turned a blind eye to some of the civilian violence nearby but she figured that the moment that got turned on the soldiers, the latter would respond by shooting first and talking later. One of them made eye contact with her, and she gave them a nod; a silent way of saying ‘I won’t fuck with you if you don’t fuck with me.’

They returned the gesture, and Tess continued onward. As she walked, she made sure not to fall prey to any distractions. She didn’t have any ration cards for a pickpocket to steal, but it was something she always made sure to practice. A good thief would notice that she was highly attentive, and would find an easier mark farther down the street.

After snaking her way through a maze of cars and buses that all seemed to be connected into one singular tunnel, she finally emerged on the other side. Tess saw a few children running playfully toward her, and was wise enough to step out of their reach right before they could try sneaking something off her.

They noticed too. A young boy, scarcely ten years old, flashed her a look and Tess just nodded. The boy stuck his tongue out and continued leading his friends into the makeshift tunnel Tess had just come out of.

Turning her attention back toward the road ahead, she noticed an old coffee shop that—to an untrained eye—looked completely abandoned.The door was a bit ajar, and covered with an X-shape of caution tape. Might be a good place to start looking for some contacts. With one scan through the street, she slid through the gap between the door and the doorframe once all the nearby soldiers were no longer looking in her direction.

The moment she entered, she crouched below the windowsill and used the walls as cover as she made her way toward the backroom. There had to be a secret entrance back there. Tess carefully turned the knob and slipped inside. All she could find back there were a series of almost-empty shelves that lined the walls, and a small industrial fridge that had duct tape holding it closed. She grimaced at the thought of why the tape was there and instead of staying to find out, she left the room.

Just as she was about to begin crouching again, she felt someone grab her wrist and drag her down behind the counter. Tess instinctively unsheathed the knife on the back of her belt and held the edge to her attacker’s throat. He was a man, taller than her and looked like he’d been to hell and back a few times in his lifetime. He was older, and when he reached for the hand holding the blade she saw a broken watch on his wrist. But that didn’t make her put the knife away. Tess began with a harsh whisper, “The fuck ‘re you doing?”

“I was gonna ask you the same question.”

“Better start talkin’ or my grip might slip.” She punctuated the remark by pressing the edge a bit harder into his skin. Not quite enough to break it, just enough to get a point across.

“Word was a newbie arrived in the QZ yesterday afternoon. I knocked on ‘er door, but ‘er brother said she already left.”

“What’s ‘er name?”

“Tess or somethin’,” he answered.

Still pressing the blade against him, she replied, “I’m guessin’ you’re the Texan then?”

He nodded slowly.

Tess sheathed her blade, careful not to make any sudden movements.

Joel continued, “They weren’t kiddin’ ‘bout ya.”

“‘Scuse me?” Tess still hadn’t sheathed the knife quite yet; she could still gut him like a pig if he wasn’t careful with his words.

“—I said you were a couple door’s off. Tunnel outside’s over in the apartment buildin’ east a’ here.”

She eyed him, not amused by his attempt to gloss over his comment. But it wasn’t worth the effort of starting a fight. Not when she was still brand new to the area. “Sure,” she deadpanned.

Joel peered above the counter and Tess could see him scan the street outside. "'S clear," he vaulted over and continued toward the entrance, Tess soon following him. Once they were outside, he continued, "Heard you were comin' from Atlanta."

"What's left of it, yeah."

A few seconds of quiet followed between them as they walked further down the road, and Joel finally said, "Don't talk much, huh?"

"Nope."

"Good."

And there came the downside of such a trait. Tess glanced at him, preferring to think that he meant it in a 'we're going to get along' kind of way rather than him being a bigot. At least if he were the latter she'd probably have the opportunity to take a jab at him if he said anything she didn't like.

The two of them didn't have to walk far; it caught her off guard when he stretched an arm out and pointed at the building she should have gone inside of. He nearly hit her in the throat with his forearm, and she instinctively shoved his arm away while he said, "Ladies first."

This building looked like an old hotel building that used to be refugee housing, but far older than the building she and her brother were assigned to. This one might have been used in the early days of the infection, but it was now long abandoned. When Joel shone a flashlight down the hall Tess could see that most of the doorways were sealed shut with the standard issue FEDRA brackets that were nigh-impossible to remove without some kind of explosives. She said, "This looks more like a secret black-market hideout."

"C'mon," Joel walked past her and made a left at the end of the hallway at the back of the lobby. As they approached a metal doorway that likely used to be the entrance to a maintenance room, he said, "Y'got a weapon?"

"I got a knife on me."

"Got any stashed somewhere?"

"I cleared out an old Starbucks outside the zone before I got my brother and I in here; should still have my duffel in there."

He nodded and led the way into—she almost guessed it right—a maintenance hall. A few racks hung on painted brick walls with a some mops and brooms hanging upon them. Some of them no longer had their handles attached. Those had probably been scavenged by other smugglers to use elsewhere.

The next door led into the hotel's kitchen, where Tess noticed a large wooden door laying across the corner of the room. It had a placard fixed to it that said, "Conference Room 3." She hadn't even seen an entrance to a Conference Room 1 or 2 back in the lobby; how did they drag this thing through the building without any FEDRAs outside hearing anything?

Joel put the flashlight in his pocket and lifted the door up enough for her to climb down. "Careful. Might be kinda slippery down there."

She nodded and hopped down into the pitch black tunnel below. Once he followed her in and covered up their entrance, she asked, "So what's the deal around here?"

"Huh?"

"'S there some kinda kingpin I gotta introduce myself to, or do I get to be my own boss?"

"Yes."

She rolled her eyes behind him as he continued downward. "You're very informative, Joel."

He gave her an affirmative grunt.

"You gonna fill me in on what's goin' on?" So far she was beginning to get the suspicion that he might be taking her down there to get rid of her. If Boston was more of a freelance area for smugglers there was a chance that he didn't want the competition. His behavior wasn't really leading her to believe otherwise.

"Gonna make a quick run to Lincoln."

Tess barely knew the region, but she remembered seeing a highway sign on the way into Boston that said Lincoln was fourteen miles away. "That's like a four-hour walk," she replied.

"Then get ready for a four-hour walk."

She cursed under her breath. If only she and Cole hadn't had to leave the car behind in Detroit. "Wonderful."

"Ain't too late to turn back. I hear if you get chummy with some of the soldiers they might let'cha have more rations."

While his back was still turned, she flipped him off. This was just her luck: the one time she lets herself sleep in a shitty position she wakes up with a sore neck and feet and that's the day she has to walk up to twenty-eight miles in one day.

After a bit more walking, they finally came across the basement of another building, where a few workbenches sat with dim glow sticks hanging from the shelves above them. "Maybe we'll get lucky and find a car on the way," Joel said, pointing at a backpack that sat on one of the workbenches, "Grab that gear n' we'll get movin. No one's gonna be missin' it."

Tess inspected the inside of the bag with one of the glow sticks. A few bullets were scattered on top of a red flannel, and under that flannel lay a snub-nosed revolver and a flashlight. She reached in and grabbed the gun, opened it, and found it empty. She rolled her eyes, but soon found that the rounds scattered inside the bag were the right ammunition. Tess loaded it and flicked the cylinder back into place, which earned her a grimace from Joel. She couldn't find a holster anywhere in the bag or on the workbench, so she settled for putting it on her hip between her belt and her jeans.

"Y'always go shovin' guns in yer pants like that?"

"When I don't have a holster," she adjusted the straps so the pack sat flush against her back, "Lay on, McDuff."

He slid a small pistol into a holster on his hip and concealed it with his shirt, just as Tess did the same.


	2. CHAPTER TWO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FLASHBACK TIME!

**PHOENIX, 2014.**  
  
  
    It had taken longer than Tess had expected, but the water shortage had finally begun. The fact that they had been getting any water in the middle of the desert after a disastrous epidemic like this had been a mystery to her until now, as one of their only friends in the triage came by their tent with the news.  
    Tess said, “Y’know, I was guessin’ we’d only have a couple weeks before the dam was drained. Four months was pretty good.”  
    “You’re almost there,” John said, “Half of it’s the dam, half of it’s the fact that FEDRA’s running outta fuel to truck it down here every day.”  
    “Bet everyone’s starting to regret living in a city that only existed ‘cause a’ gasoline and air conditioning, eh?”  
    “You’re one of the people that’s stuck here too.”  
    “Only ‘cause my parents each got dragged here by their folks.”  
    “My point before you started interrupting me was that you should really start making plans for yourself. Soon enough there won’t be enough water to go around and people are going to start dying of dehydration more than from the infection.”  
    Tess remained silent for a moment, and her brother interjected, “Have they started figuring out what’s been turning people into those...things?”  
    “...You know I’m not allowed to tell you anything.”  
    “Come on,” Cole pointed briefly at John’s uniform, “They have to be telling you guys about what the zombies are like.”  
    John glanced between them, then around their tent, and eventually stepped inside. He zipped the canopy closed and huddled near them. “...Word is it’s some kinda fungus that evolved all weird,” he kept his voice barely audible, “Normally it just infected ants before, but now it’s doing it to humans too. And making them go crazy.”  
    “Fungus?”  
    “Yeah. They’re calling it the Cor—cord—“  
    Tess finally spoke once more, “—Cordyceps?”  
    “...How’d you know?” John said a bit too loudly.  
    She shrugged, “Got bored on Wikipedia late at night a lot before shit went down.”  
    John grimaced.  
    “...I didn’t have many friends, okay?”  
    “Sounds about right,” John deadpanned.  
    Tess frowned at him before changing the subject. “...You said somethin’ about makin’ plans? What kinda plans?”  
    “Either you guys leave, or you start making friends with some of the smugglers that are starting to pop up around the Valley. But warning: Those people out there can be even crazier than the infected. At least you can predict the infected a little bit. Humans? Those assholes are really scary ones.”  
    Cole looked at Tess as if he were asking her not to make them leave. He had a point, though. She was barely an adult, and he was about to turn fourteen in a couple months. It would be a terrible idea, but then again dying in the come summertime from dehydration was far worse. She looked back up at John and asked quietly, “...Y’know about any places we can sneak outta here?”  
    John paused, biting the inside of his cheek as he thought. Tess and Cole waited an uncomfortably long time before their FEDRA friend spoke again. “Uh...” John began, “...There’s one night patrol that’s kinda forgotten about sometimes a mile north of here by the baseball field with all the temporary housing in it. The perimeter is really close to there and I guess if you can find the place where people 've been sneaking out over there you’re home free. You just gotta handle any infected out there yourself, though. FEDRA’s done saving people’s asses when they get cocky out there. Once you’re out, you’re on your own, Tess.”  
    Cole became visibly terrified. His gaze snapped toward his sister, who had to remind herself that letting him most assuredly die of starvation or lack of water was worse than taking their chances outside. She replied, “I’m sure we’ll manage.”  
    “Without any weapons?”  
    “Maybe one of the soldiers that patrols nearby might be forgetful enough to…leave a pistol in our tent?” Tess smiled, but John grimaced like she’d just insulted him.  
    “Never do that thing with your face again.”  
    “What? I’m smiling.”  
    “Yeah. Don’t.”  
    Tess frowned, “So how about it? Gonna help us out?”  
    “You know I can’t do that. I’m supposed to keep survivors safe, not guide them to their deaths.”  
    “You said it yourself, we can’t stay here much longer.”  
    “You need to figure your shit out yourself, Tess.”  
    She rolled her eyes.  
    “Stop it. I’m not gonna hand over a bunch of weapons that FEDRA needs to keep the smart survivors safe just so you can go out there and get torn apart by infected. I’m not gonna do it.”  
    “...You’ve probably got a patrol to do, huh?” Tess said in a thinly-veiled attempt to get him to leave.  
    John finally stood to leave, but stopped at their door to say his final point. “...You’re not as badass as you think you are.”  
    The fucking prick, Tess thought, but she said aloud, “Bet you a thousand bucks I’ll make it longer out there than you will sitting in here.”  
    “Raise you another thousand that I’ll be out scouting next week and I’ll find you guys hiding from infected in an old Starbucks two miles from here, tops.” John unzipped the canopy and left. The two remaining stayed silent for a long while, until Cole finally said, “...You’re gonna try getting us out tonight, aren’t you?”  
    “That's an awesome idea, Cole—“  
    “We barely even know anything about the infected,” Cole raised his voice a bit, catching himself mid-thought, “...Do they even have any weaknesses?”  
    “John said it was a fungus, right?”  
    Cole nodded slowly.  
    “While we were in line for rations the other day I overheard some soldiers talkin' about how we’ve been kinda lucky here so far ‘cause we’re in the desert. More of us survived out here, that kinda shit. I’m thinkin’ that there aren’t as many infected outside the triage as FEDRA’s been sayin’. If anything the hard part’d really be just stockin’ up on water, but if we’re lucky we might still find some cases of bottled water in some a’ the stores around the city. There are shitloads of those still around here; FEDRA can’t have scavenged all their old stock in just a few months.”  
    “You’re gonna make us do it.”  
    “What other choice do we have? This way we might find Mom and Dad if we can make it far enough north.”  
    “They were in Portland when the outbreak started, and even if they have survived this whole time they might’ve had the same idea. Maybe they’re on their way here and if we leave we won’t see them again.”  
    “I’m not going to sit here dying of thirst just in case our parents might show up,” Tess said firmly, “We’re gonna get outta here and see if Dad’s gun safe’s still got something in it, then we’re heading north. Get some sleep, I’m gonna go scout out that weak spot John talked about.” She was already slinging her bag over her chest as she heard her brother curse under his breath.  
  


  
        *                *                *  


  
  
    Cole awoke to Tess prodding harshly into his shoulder with her finger. “Get up!”  
    He sat up, nearly punching her in the nose. “What?! What happened?”  
    “Nothing—We’ve gotta go; they’re changin' shifts and you're wastin' time.”  
    “Tess...” Cole mumbled.  
    “Get up, grab your stuff. We’re gettin’ outta here. Tonight.”  
    Tess already had her bag slung across her torso, and the various charms and keychains that once personalized it lay scattered on the crate acting as the table between their cots. She caught Cole staring at them and explained, “Can’t risk those things making any noise.”  
    She crept up to the curtains that served as their front door and peered between them. Tess counted one soldier slowly patrolling between their row of tents, and a few of said tents still had lanterns flickering within them, including one of Tess’s and Cole’s neighbors. She then darted across the tent to the other side, where she had to use her multitool to cut a small slit in the material to do another scan. Their way was clear there, but the gap between their row and the next row of tents was a couple feet at most. One slip up and they could end up indirectly tripping an alarm through a scared refugee who heard something. But that way they could sneak past most of the soldiers in the area. The moment Cole had his backpack on, she expanded the hole in the back of the tent with her knife and motioned for him to follow her through.  
    Tess led the way, one hand on the bag resting on the small of her back—ensuring its few contents didn’t alert anyone nearby. She felt her chest get tighter and tighter, and the stress made her stomach churn. She’d been detained before after a misunderstanding and didn’t wish that upon her brother. Or anyone else, for that matter.  


  
  
    They nearly reached their destination without issue, but from what Tess could tell the shift change was nearly over. She noticed a few soldiers beginning to appear throughout the courtyard outside the entrance to the baseball-field-turned-refugee-camp. “Shit,” she muttered. They’d have to try their luck going through some of the neighboring restaurants. In her previous exploration of the refugee areas, she’d discovered that FEDRA would sometimes knock down walls in some of the buildings to set up ambushes for infected in their vain attempts to take the city back inch by inch. Tess turned and seized her brother's upper arm, dragging him into an old sports bar.  
    The inside of the place looked like it had been ransacked. Tables and chairs were set up haphazardly along the windows as barricades, and the stench that Tess could only describe as rotten meat hung in the air. She motioned for him to join her in crouching near the window. Cole quietly shut the door behind them and she heard the lock click in place. Tess's fear-nausea was soon replaced by genuine nausea. If they were lucky, they wouldn't have to discover the corpse was causing the odor. She used to think before that she could handle the sight of a dead human body considering the zombie apocalypse had finally happened, but now that she could smell it she was quickly coming to the realization that there was a fifty-fifty chance she would vomit the moment she might see a human corpse.  
    She banished the thought. They couldn't afford for her to get cold feet now. Not when they were so close to freedom but also incredibly close to being detained and beaten. Tess clamped one hand over the lower half of her face, which didn't actually do much for the smell but it tricked her nose for a moment. Behind her, she heard Cole gag and come dangerously close to throwing up. She halted, turning to look behind her and shake her head vigorously. Tess waved toward the door to the backroom; they were almost out of sight. He just had to hold it back for a couple more moments.  
    Two FEDRA searchlights had been scanning across the row of sports bars and restaurants, and the moment theirs was free of light Tess darted through to the kitchen doorway. She slid inside, and soon Cole followed. He shut the door as soon as he was safely inside, which left the two of them in pitch darkness. Tess felt along the wall beside the doorway and flicked a light switch, which luckily still had power. The lights flickered a bit as they switched on and emitted a dim light throughout the kitchen area. Some bulbs continued to flicker, but otherwise there was no immediate danger lurking as far as Tess could tell with an exceedingly short scan through the room. Aside from the rustling of their clothes as they moved, the kitchen was dead silent.  
    But the stench hadn't gone away yet. In fact, Tess could swear it had gotten even worse. She tried taking a breather, but didn't have the opportunity to do so. Instead, Cole said slowly, "...Tess...?"  
    When she looked, he was pointing at something on the opposite wall, propped up against one of the counters — A deceased infected. For a split second, Tess went cold with pure fear when she saw the dead woman's pained expression, dull orange eyes, and prominent veins in her skin until Tess realized it had already been killed. A chef's knife was lodged in its neck, and there were dried blood stains surrounding the wound. Not to mention it had been the source of the smell the entire time; the infected's face looked disgustingly slimy and was mostly rotting away.  
    "...Fuck!" Tess whispered harshly, "Be more specific next time, asshole!" She fought back the urge to gag.  
    Cole didn't bother holding back. She watched him dry-heave onto the linoleum before he replied in a nasally voice, "...Gross..."  
    Watching him didn't help. Tess swallowed and exhaled through her mouth to keep hers down. "Jesus..." she muttered. Though eventually she approached the body with hope that it still had something useful on it.  
    But she had no such luck. Soldiers had already picked it clean. As she got a closer look, she noticed that while some parts of the skin had become slimy, others had hardened into large fungal plates.  
    "—Shit." She remembered one of the stages of the infection in ants being that once the host was dead, it would start emitting clouds of spores soon after death to infect the colony. She had no clue how quickly that happened in ants, much less humans, but she figured it would be better to be safe than breathing infectious spores. "We gotta move," Tess ordered.  
    Cole was already moving a large slab of wood away from one of the other walls. He said, "Looks like they were trying to hide the shortcuts from the infected. C'mon."  
    "Those things either gotta be blind or stupid not to just knock it over and barge through anyway," Tess shot one last glance at the body before following her brother into the next bar's kitchen.  
    The next few buildings were a breeze to get through...except the final one. Tess could see the gap in the triage's flimsy perimeter through a window across the once gaudy  dining area. The only obstacle in their way was a single infected that stood almost motionless in the center of the room. It would occasionally twitch an almost claw-like arm in an odd way, and its breathing sounded like gasps for air between chest-wracking sobs...but it seemed to be asleep. Or resting. It was hard to tell since the thing would groan in pain and writhe, even while standing. The whole display was unnerving even by Tess's standards, and she used to love zombie films before the outbreak.  
    Maybe it was because the threat didn't seem even remotely possible back then.  
    It was just one of them, but neither Tess nor Cole were armed. And it still had the chance to overpower both of them. Cole wasn't a particularly muscular child, and Tess had lost quite a bit of what little muscle mass she had over the past few months due to malnutrition. They ducked behind the bar counter in the corner of the room, unsure of their next move. She had no clue how to take the thing down both silently and without a weapon. She'd never encountered one like this before. On their way to the evacuation point at home, she nearly ran over a few with her car in her haste to get them to safety, but that was the extent of her experience against the infected.  
    They were trapped. Turning back was as much of a risk as trying to tag-team a zombie with nothing but their bare hands and whatever they could find in the bar. Tess slowly peered over the bar counter and looked around: Still one infected, and the furniture in this bar — like the others — was built into weak makeshift barricades against the windows. The room was dark, save for the searchlight that shone through the glass every handful of seconds.  
    She felt a sharp prod in her upper arm. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from yelping in pain as she sat back down and shifted her gaze to her brother. He had half empty bottle of Southern Comfort in one hand; the other hand pointing at the windows and gesturing in an arc toward the dining area. She wasn't entirely understanding his plan, but it didn't matter. Within seconds, he hurled the bottle across the room right before the searchlight reappeared. The infected screamed and croaked before clambering toward the noise...and the window that faced the FEDRA patrol. Tess glanced at Cole, an ear-to-ear grin spread across her features.  
    The infected scanned the area where the bottle shattered. Tess saw one of its feet step onto a shard of glass and it didn't even seem bothered in the least. It gave one last gasp right before the searchlight locked onto it; a second later, heavy machine gun fire shredded the creature into a bloody pulp. It crumpled to the carpet, and the circle of light stayed trained on the body as it twitched for a couple seconds after death. Tess was about to silently praise the fact that FEDRA decided to patrol that area tonight, but heard some shouting outside and didn't see the searchlight's circle move. It was so bright that it cast long, hard shadows all over the room in odd patterns through the piles of tables and chairs that reinforced the windows. Bright enough that they had no chance of sneaking through until the soldiers' attention was pulled away.  
    "You wanna try seeing what the thing had on 'im, sir?" Tess heard someone shout outside in the courtyard.  
    Someone shouted back, "Pipe down! But yeah, go ahead 'n see what its got, kid."  
    Tess cursed through a heavy exhale. Cole put a finger over his lips, eyes staring daggers into her. A few seconds passed, and the bar door squeaked open. She heard heavy steel-toed footsteps enter, then stop. After some rustling the soldier cursed under his breath. "Seriously? Nothin' good?...Fuckin' A..."  
    Tess could hear her heart pounding. She just wanted to leave. She wanted a weapon; something. 'Just fucking leave already, moron,' she thought, 'Just give up. Leave. Don't keep making a big fucking deal out of some dead monster not carrying anything.'  
    "No ID?" the soldier murmured, "...Fuckin' idiot must've snuck out—Jesus, when will these dumbasses learn?" He sighed loudly, but Tess eventually heard him leave as she rolled her eyes at his "dumbass" comment. She anxiously moved to peer over the counter once more, right as the searchlight followed the soldier back down the courtyard.  
    Still cautious, Tess pushed herself to her feet but crouched behind the counter. She watched the light grow dimmer outside and decided that moment was their best chance at getting through the boundary. The weak spot John had mentioned was a section of the chain link fence that had been cut with wire cutters, beneath one of the blue tarps that had come untied from one of the poles in the fence.  
    And she seized that moment. Tess waved her brother along and barely took a second to check the courtyard before bolting toward the exit. The jagged edges of the cut links scraped her skin and clothes as she squeezed through, but that didn't faze her.  
    For one split second, she felt ecstatic. No more patrols, no more random bite-checks, no more ration cards. They were free.


End file.
